Gamma3 Octantis

For other stars with this Bayer designation, see γ Octantis.

γ^3 Octantis

Location of γ^3 Octantis (circled)
Observation data Epoch J2000.0      Equinox J2000.0 (ICRS)
Constellation	Octans
Right ascension	00^h 10^m 02.17249^s[1]
Declination	−82° 13′ 26.5695″[1]
Apparent magnitude (V)	5.28±0.01[2]
Characteristics
Evolutionary stage	Horizontal branch[3]
Spectral type	K1/2 III[4]
U−B color index	+0.92[5]
B−V color index	+1.05[5]
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)	15±2.8[6] km/s
Proper motion (μ)	RA: −22.050 mas/yr[1] Dec.: −20.218 mas/yr[1]
Parallax (π)	12.3535 ± 0.0517 mas[1]
Distance	264 ± 1 ly (80.9 ± 0.3 pc)
Absolute magnitude (MV)	+0.83[7]
Details[8]
Mass	2.23±0.09 M☉
Radius	9.94±0.24 R☉
Luminosity	50.5±1.2 L☉
Surface gravity (log g)	2.78±0.15 cgs
Temperature	4,879±51 K
Metallicity [Fe/H]	+0.19±0.04 dex
Rotational velocity (v sin i)	<1[9] km/s
Other designations
γ^3 Octantis, 1 G. Octantis[10], CPD−82°4, FK5 3971, GC 173, HD 636, HIP 814, HR 30, SAO 258215[11]
Database references
SIMBAD	data

Gamma^3 Octantis, Latinized from γ^3 Octantis, is a solitary star[12] located in the southern circumpolar constellation Octans. It is faintly visible to the naked eye as an orange-hued star with an apparent magnitude of 5.28.[2] The object is located relatively close at a distance of 264 light years but is receding with a heliocentric radial velocity of 15 km/s. At its current distance, Gamma^3 Octantis' brightness is diminished by two tenths of a magnitude due to interstellar dust[13] and Eggen (1993) lists it as a member of the old disk population.[14] It has an absolute magnitude of +0.83.[7]

Gamma^3 Octantis has a stellar classification of K1/2 III,[4] indicating that it is an evolved K-type star with the characteristics of a K1 and K2 giant star. It is a red clump star that is currently on the horizontal branch,[3] fusing helium at its core. At present it has 2.23 times the mass of the Sun but has expanded to almost 10 times its girth.[8] It radiates 50.5 times the luminosity of the Sun from its enlarged photosphere at an effective temperature of 4,879 K, which gives it a yellowish-orange glow.[8] Gamma^3 Octantis is metal enriched with an iron abundance 1.55[8] times that of the Sun and common for giant stars, spins slowly with a projected rotational velocity less than 1 km/s.[9]

Gap between stars sharing Gamma designation

The very similar brightness and potentially close stars of Gamma^2, 3 have been examined by the Gaia space telescope/observatory. Gamma^2 is much more distant than the other two whose margins of error overlap when parallaxes are considered — they may thus be close enough to be in loose mutual orbital. These distances from our star system per Gaia's second Data Release (DR2) are, respectively, around 319 ± 5 ly and 259 ± 3 ly. The observation refines Gamma^1 as being 262 ± 4 ly away.

References

1. Vallenari, A.; et al. (Gaia collaboration) (2023). "Gaia Data Release 3. Summary of the content and survey properties". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 674: A1. arXiv:2208.00211. Bibcode:2023A&A...674A...1G. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202243940. S2CID 244398875. Gaia DR3 record for this source at VizieR.
2. Høg, E.; Fabricius, C.; Makarov, V. V.; Urban, S.; Corbin, T.; Wycoff, G.; Bastian, U.; Schwekendiek, P.; Wicenec, A. (March 2000). "The Tycho-2 catalogue of the 2.5 million brightest stars". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 355: L27 – L30. Bibcode:2000A&A...355L..27H. ISSN 0004-6361.
3. Laney, C. D.; Joner, M. D.; Pietrzyński, G. (11 November 2011). "A new Large Magellanic Cloud K-band distance from precision measurements of nearby red clump stars". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 419 (2): 1637–1641. arXiv:1109.4800. Bibcode:2012MNRAS.419.1637L. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.19826.x. ISSN 0035-8711.
4. Houk, N.; Cowley, A. P. (1975). University of Michigan Catalogue of two-dimensional spectral types for the HD stars. Volume I. Declinations −90° to −53°. Bibcode:1975mcts.book.....H.
5. Johnson, H. L.; Mitchell, R. I.; Iriarte, B.; Wisniewski, W. Z. (1966). "UBVRIJKL Photometry of the Bright Stars". Communications of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. 4: 99–110. Bibcode:1966CoLPL...4...99J.
6. Gontcharov, G. A. (November 2006). "Pulkovo Compilation of Radial Velocities for 35 495 Hipparcos stars in a common system". Astronomy Letters. 32 (11): 759–771. arXiv:1606.08053. Bibcode:2006AstL...32..759G. doi:10.1134/S1063773706110065. eISSN 1562-6873. ISSN 1063-7737. S2CID 119231169.
7. Anderson, E.; Francis, Ch. (May 2012). "XHIP: An extended hipparcos compilation". Astronomy Letters. 38 (5): 331–346. arXiv:1108.4971. Bibcode:2012AstL...38..331A. doi:10.1134/S1063773712050015. eISSN 1562-6873. ISSN 1063-7737. S2CID 119257644.
8. Ottoni, G.; Udry, S.; Ségransan, D.; Buldgen, G.; Lovis, C.; Eggenberger, P.; Pezzotti, C.; Adibekyan, V.; Marmier, M.; Mayor, M.; Santos, N. C.; Sousa, S. G.; Lagarde, N.; Charbonnel, C. (January 2022). "CORALIE radial-velocity search for companions around evolved stars (CASCADES): I. Sample definition and first results: Three new planets orbiting giant stars". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 657: A87. arXiv:2201.01528. Bibcode:2022A&A...657A..87O. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202040078. eISSN 1432-0746. ISSN 0004-6361.
9. De Medeiros, J. R.; Alves, S.; Udry, S.; Andersen, J.; Nordström, B.; Mayor, M. (January 2014). "A catalog of rotational and radial velocities for evolved stars V: Southern Stars⋆⋆⋆". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 561: A126. arXiv:1312.3474. Bibcode:2014A&A...561A.126D. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201220762. eISSN 1432-0746. ISSN 0004-6361.
10. Gould, Benjamin Apthorp (1878). "Uranometria Argentina : brillantez y posicion de las estrellas fijas, hasta la septima magnitud, comprendidas dentro de cien grados del polo austral : con atlas". Resultados del Observatorio Nacional Argentino. 1. Bibcode:1879RNAO....1.....G.
11. "gam03 Octantis". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
12. Eggleton, P. P.; Tokovinin, A. A. (11 September 2008). "A catalogue of multiplicity among bright stellar systems". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 389 (2): 869–879. arXiv:0806.2878. Bibcode:2008MNRAS.389..869E. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13596.x. eISSN 1365-2966. ISSN 0035-8711. S2CID 14878976.
13. Gontcharov, George A.; Mosenkov, Aleksandr V. (28 September 2017). "Verifying reddening and extinction for Gaia DR1 TGAS main sequence stars". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 472 (4): 3805–3820. arXiv:1709.01160. Bibcode:2017MNRAS.472.3805G. doi:10.1093/mnras/stx2219. eISSN 1365-2966. ISSN 0035-8711.
14. Eggen, O. J. (July 1993). "Evolved GK stars near the sun. I - The old disk population". The Astronomical Journal. 106: 80. Bibcode:1993AJ....106...80E. doi:10.1086/116622.